There is no such thing as “permit to campaign/permit to win fees” and it is extremely malicious for a newspaper in the region to headline that the National Democratic Front of the Philippines – Eastern Visayas (NDFP-EV) “admits” there is such a demand on candidates seeking electoral access in revolutionary territories. Where else did this come except from parroting the counterrevolutionary propaganda by the Aquino regime and its 8th Infantry Division, Armed Forces of the Philippines?

They campaign against the exercise of state power by the People’s Democratic Government which imposes guidelines on candidates in the conduct of election campaigns in revolutionary territories. Such state power is widely recognized and respected, and all candidates without exception must abide by the guidelines on election campaigns.

Furthermore, the Aquino regime and the 8th Infantry Division seek to divert attention away from the fact that the reactionary elections are undemocratic and are used along with state violence to keep the oppressive and exploitative system. The leading reactionary politicians in the region are all representatives of landlords and big business who oppress and exploit the people, and sell out national sovereignty and national patrimony to foreign interests. The worst of them have been big bureaucrats for long and turn their positions into political dynasties.

There are the Petilla and Romualdez dynasties in Leyte who have been squabbling over the spoils of power since the Marcos dictatorship. There is the Tan dynasty in Western Samar whose matriarch and her four children are making it a family business to run the province. There is the Daza dynasty in Northern Samar which has been plundering billions in public works projects.

These dynasties are also close collaborators with the military in wielding state authority and state violence to subjugate the people. They are oblivious to the military’s human rights violations under Oplan Bayanihan. They support the 8th ID’s surrender campaigns against the New People’s Army. They legitimize the military’s psychological warfare campaigns and even share lucrative public works contracts. They connive with the military and police in running private armies and criminal syndicates.

Thus the guidelines on the conduct of election campaigns are there precisely because of the people’s demands against the tyrants who commit violence and bribery to get themselves elected. The People’s Democratic Government ensures that the rights and interests of the people are protected, and that elections are peaceful, orderly and beneficial. To do these, the People’s Democratic Government has both the New People’s Army and the instruments of political power as a rising revolutionary state coexisting with and confronting the reactionary ruling state.

The people in the revolutionary territories are empowered in fighting for a genuine democratic system of governance to prevail, which even the reactionary politicians recognize and respect. Those who disparage the revolutionary movement and believe the ruling system is “democratic” and empowers the people are either exceedingly ignorant or hopelessly reactionary.